In Between Worlds
by austriandummie
Summary: Elle discovers a secret on her 16th birthday which will shape her future. With a portkey she is put into the wizarding world and needs to learn all about it to then be the 143rd successor of Jonathan Gryffindor's heritage of being a communication aid between the magic and the muggle world - as if all that was so easy!
1. Chapter 1

"Morning, Elle!"

"Good morning yourself, Rita," says the blond girl and smiles at her best friend.

"Wrote that essay for biology?" Rita checks her watch and increases the speed of their walking.

"I thought that one was set for next Tuesday, are you sure we have to hand it in today?"

"For definite!"

"Why did I even ask, as if you were ever wrong," Elle says while rolling her eyes and bumps her friend's shoulder.

"Exactly. Now can we speed up a bit? We're gonna be late."

"We have Morgenson first, remember? He's like always late himself, so for once, relax! Do it for me, it's my birthday, see it as sort of a present."

"If you want your birthday present to be that, I'm perfectly fine with it. So I can bring back the massive birthday cake, and the tickets to see _Thirty Seconds to Mars_, right?" Elle stares at her friend for a little too long, before she screams out and hugs Rita so tight that she wishs she didn't tell her about it yet.

"Did I ever tell you that you're the best friend someone could ever have?" Elle says, her eyes still wide and shining of excitement.

"Let me think… yes, you did indeed, last birthday, and the one before, and the one before, and-"

"Oh shut up, you know it anyway," Elle says and smiles all over her face, walking with a skip in her steps.

Today was her 16th birthday, a really big deal for Elle. It didn't only mean another year which she spent on Netflix and eating chocolate and popcorn, it also meant that she was now legally allowed to buy a lottery ticket, get married, drive a moped, get out of school, and, oh well, have sex. As great as all those sound – which they don't – there is an even better thing with this new age: she was now allowed to have friends over in this little cottage in the garden which was decorated just for her. And today was finally the day where she was allowed to spend as much time in there and do whatever she wanted in there. And she would have a party tonight. A big one (more or less) just for her.

As they arrive in school, they have to squeeze through a couple of groups whom they both are not too keen to talk to – on the right side next to the school on the car park there are standing the so called "cool" ones, boys with caps and baggy clothes and girls with ear-rings which are sized half of their own head. A few meters across the stairs are the punks who are not Elle's and Rita's type either – a couple of pale skinned and black or surreal coloured haired and some fake piercings which they have to take out every time they enter the school. What a happy and fulfilling life they must lead, Elle thinks as she walks past them.

After the stairs there is just a mass of people who are either loners, people who just wait for their best friends to arrive, cool kids who think that making fun of any harmless person would be the funniest thing to do, girls with way too much pink and glitter and make up and those god damn earrings and not to forget the teachers who are paid to stand there each morning, look professional and as if they could handle this mass of different people, most of them sipping coffee for not falling asleep after the long nights of marking an essay which was written in a hurry without any will of getting good grades. School life, oh how Elle did _not_ love it.

She looks around and found a boy who looks as if he never did and still not belong in all this, a boy called Lin. His parents emigrated from China when he was only 4 years old. With his shy human being and his tendency to get red cheeks whenever any person he does not like comes near him, he never found any other friends then Elle, Rita and Matt. Matt was also a child of some immigrants from South Africa with his mum being Irish and his dad being South African.

"Happy 16th Birthday, Elle! I got this for you, only something little, you'll get the big present tonight," his smile bigger than before as he gets out a small, paper wrapped box with a cute little bow on it.

"Oh Lin, thank you!" She takes the little box and puts her arms around the skinny boy, then she frees him from her embrace and takes off the paper around the little box and bursts into a big laugh which draws half of the attention of the school hallway on her. Rita, as well as Lin, get red and cover their faces in their hands. "Oh Jesus, 'stress bites'? What on earth are they?"

Lin looks around so that he is sure that no one is listening. "They are Chinese, and they are used in any stressful situation – I saw that you had a lot of stress lately, with all that Ethan thingie and-"

"Pssssst, not so loud," Elle bumps the poor kid on the head.

"and," he clears his throat, "school, your parents, organizing this party and life in general. So I thought they would help! You don't take them as actual pills, but whenever you feel like you couldn't handle something, they will help to organize your thought and to clear your head. My mum always takes them – the only side effect is that if you take them on an everyday basis, they won't work anymore. For that, my mum takes 7 of them a day. One of them each day is completely satisfying if you ask me." Elle nods, as she catches the sight of this one special boy in school.

His name was Ethan and he is probably the only boy in school she likes apart from her two best friends. He is gentle, friendly, good looking, good in science and is somehow different. She can not quite put it into words in which ways he is different, but he simply is. Maybe the way he walks, or the way he doesn't have any friends in school and sits by himself each lunch, leaning against this massive tree and reading his books after he finished, or how he looks at her during class, or how mysterious he always seems to be. This strange new guy no one ever talks to. And whatever it was, it made Elle fall slightly in love with him.

A few days ago she made a move in their non-existing relationship and asked him if he wanted to come to her party tonight, and to her and everyone else's surprise, he actually said yes. And then their relationship which never existed ended again. Those looks in science still were the same and he would still not come over during lunch time to talk to her. Elle used to compare him with an unopened book which was beautifully illustrated inside, but would break if you would dare to touch it.

"…earth to Elle, are you still with us?" Rita asks and waves in front of her friend's face. Elle shrugs and sighs. "Do you think that he will actually come? I mean he doesn't even talk to me in Science, and I'm sitting right next to him."

"Well, he talks about the weather and then reads through his Science notes. Suppose he just needs time, it's only one month since he's been here, give him some time and he'll eventually warm up. Or not. We'll see. And maybe he's coming to your party that would be a break-through in your relationship-to-be." Matt says, now standing next to Lin, looking suspicious at Ethan. "Oh, and by the way, happy 16th birthday, 6 o'clock tonight, right?" Elle nods and looks at Rita's watch.

"Should we go? I got Maths first and I don't want to sit next to Timothy again if I don't have to." Her friends laugh.

"I think he likes you though, he asked you out for a date yet, so it seems that he actually respects you." Rita says and gets out her mobile phone to put it on Silent.

"Or he is actually interested in you, he always looks at you when you don't look, you know?" Rita blushes and Lin smiles a little. "Oh, and he asked me if he could have your number, so I gave it to him." Matt says with a big smile.

"You're such a traitor," Rita says and gives Matt a gentle slap, "as if I would not have any other problems then him, and you just give him my number? Why on earth did you do that?"

"Well, he asked me to, and he gave me Therese one's in return." Matt nods to a brown haired girl who over dramatically laughs at a joke of her friend. He turns away and smirks, "I rang her twice and pretended to be a pizza deliverer." All four laugh. "You're such an idiot, Matt," Rita says. "But you still like me," Matt smirks and looks at her with an overly-in-love-face, as she bursts out into laughter and turns toward the biology room, "see you guys later, good luck in Maths, Elle, and don't forget to come to the drama room for lunch, boys!"

"Yes, Miss," they say all at the same time and salute her, before they split up and all walk to their own classrooms. Elle is just about to enter the Maths room, as a hand pulls her aside. "Hi," a, to her, well-known but hardly heard voice says which she recognises as Ethan's. His voice sounds so rough but still so soft and gentle, Elle could get lost in just his voice every time he speaks.

"Hey, Ethan, how-" she stops as the bell rings. "Oh, I got to go, biology now." He turns around and walks towards the same direction, Rita went in. Elle sighs frustrated and slams her hand on the wall next to the classroom. "You okay, blondie?" Timothy says and smiles at her with the whitest teeth in probably the whole United Kingdom. "'Blondie' does not feel the necessity to answer your question. Now, if you excuse me, I want to get a spot not in the very back of the classroom or next to some idiot for once."

"No need to be so mean, blondie, I'm just trying to be a bit more social with you." Tim says and tightens his tie.

"You want to be a bit more social? How about leaving me alone and annoying someone else?"

"But no one is as fun to discriminate as you, blondie," he says and guides her into the classroom with the back of his hand. "See, I let you through, can we sit next to each other again?"

"How about no, Tim, I really can't be bothered to explain you everything again, right after the teacher did, and it's my birthday today, so respect my wish for once, okay?" Elle says and rolls her eyes.

"If you say so. Happy birthday then. How old do you get? 12? 11?"

"16 if you want to know it for sure, but just forget about it."

"So much negative energy today, I wonder where that comes from. Any problems with your little loverboy?"

"Then only because you put it inside me and he is not-"

"Miss Robinson, I do not mean to interrupt this seemingly intimate conversation, but I would very much appreciate it, if you and Mister Jackson would sit down and continue this conversation after the lesson has finished." Mr. Morgenson says and goes ahead of the two teenagers, one of them blushing because of the anger and embarrassment and the other one smirking.

Elle manages to sit as far from Tim as anyhow possible and then tries to focus on the lesson but gets drifted away with thinking of all the things she would need to buy for her party and what she could talk about with Ethan, or how to tell her mum that some other boys apart from Matt and Lin would come to her party.

The day goes by fast with many teachers and students wishing her a happy birthday. After all she was a very respected and well-known student without being too much of someone who puts herself in the foreground or drawing attention to herself. Walking home, his time alone, as all of her friends still are in school, she takes the sharp corner to her right and nearly crashs into an old woman, rushes a quick "sorreh" and takes the next one left, right to the front door of her house. She leans the bike on the fence, puts out her house key from her right trouser pocket and turns it around twice until the green front door with the poor painting cracks open.

"Mum? Dad?" she screams without intending to hear an answer – her mother usually works from 9 to 5 at the hospital, while her dad is an oh-so-famous (well, he actually was, but Elle was sick of hearing how great her dad was) lawyer working up in Nottingham today to meet up with another political asshole who twisted the law to get some money for himself and now set her dad up to get him out of his situation.

She places her school bag next to the stairs and strokes the ginger cat named "Lucky". She was named this name because she was, first, Irish, and second, found by some man in an abounded house in a wooden box, starving and with burning marks. Some of her hair still didn't grow back, but Elle always thought that Lucky was an extraordinary cat compared to some humans she knew. "C'mon then," she says and nods to the kitchen, where she opens a tin of cat food and places the blue bowl with the green dots and some chicken in it in front of her car. As if she wants to say thank you, Lucky looks up at Elle before eating her cat meal.

"Already forgot, I still need to call uncle Harry," she checks her watch and tries to wage her possibility to reach him, "it's me, and it's my birthday, he should have time for me. He better does," she says, grins and dials the number on the land line. The phone beeps twice, silence, beep beep, silence, beep beep, silence, beep-

"You are speaking to Robinson & Junior Building office-" (since when was Ryan, her cousin, also part of the company?) "-my name is Georgia Anders, how can I help you?" Elle coughs and tries to speak as clearly as possible, as she knows that Ms Anders was German and wasn't too good in English – much to the dislike of many costumers, as she was the first person they need to talk to before then portray their dream home to her uncle, - or Ryan, as she just found out.

"Hello, my name is Elle Robinson, Mr Robinson's niece, may I talk to him, or is he busy at the moment?"

"Oh, hello Elle, isn't it your birthday today? Mr Robinson was on about it all day long, but I better not tell you too much," she giggles and Elle cannot hold it back but to giggle about her strange giggle as well.

"That's fine, can you tell him to ring me back, please? Oh, or does Ryan happen to be free to talk to?"

"If busy means actually working and not creating Greek temples on our software for creating houses, he is not, for definite. Should I put you through, love?"

"Thanks, Ms Anders."

"No problem, Elle. Nice talking to you, and have a happy birthday!" Elle smiles and nods, before realising that Ms Anders couldn't see her. She's about to say thank you, as the call cuts and the beeping starts again. She sighs and looks across the room only to see Lucky finishing the bowl, doing sort of a nod thing towards Elle (yes, this cat was indeed very weird and unusual) and then leaving the room to most likely sit down on Elle's bed where she always lays.

"Ryan Robinson, who am I speaking to, and how can I help you?" Her cousin's voice sounds through the phone and makes Elle smile.

"And since when are you in your dad's company?" Elle asks smirking. She just could not imagine someone like Ryan in an office, wearing a suit and tie, and having to be polite to costumers. It was nothing like the boy who was listening to Nirvana, Metallica and Kiss, wearing mostly black, messy bright brown hair, a bandana and those green eyes who always seemed to her as if they were full of excitement and living energy.

"Excuse me, who am I speaking to?" She can clearly her his confusion and happily imagines his big eyebrows bow.

"Have we actually got to this point where you don't recognise me anymore when I'm speaking to you on the phone?" Silence again, then she can hear him sigh and imagines him leaning forward on his desk, closing the window on his computer with his ancient temple.

"Elle! We must not have talked in months, if not years! Did you change your phone number? I tried to text or call you, but there's always a strange teen girl who must think I'm sort of a pervert calling her and asking to meet her," he laughs, and so does Elle. "Well anyway, it's your birthday today! I don't think I should tell you this, but dad's got an awesome surprise! It was my idea and actually I wanted to have it for myself, but so we can both get it! I think we get round to yours later on at around," he pauses, "six o'clock… ish? I don't know, better ask dad, but you'll love it!"

"Hey, that's great! I actually wanted to speak to your dad about doing an apprenticeship in summer as I thought about studying Architecture but I first want to see what it is like, I thought that could work out, but I can ask him later when you come here anyway! Oh, and Ryan? You could come and stay here as well, some friends, Lin, Matt, Rita, Jess and Ethan, don't think you know him, come as well."

"So who is that Ethan then?" he asks, clearly knowing that she would not want to talk about it. It was sort of a talent of him to always do that and Elle had always appreciated it, as she was able to talk about all those things as she would not talk about them with him if he didn't ask.

"He's new, he moved here from Brighton one month ago and came to our school. We sit next to each other in chemistry and he is actually pretty good at it, our teacher always calls us the dream-team, as when we're working together, we're the quickest and best ones in class. Well anyway, I'm not so sure, but I think he fancies me and I fancy him, but he barely talks to me nor any other person. I don't quite know why, but I think he's special and-"

"You sound like a girly teenager, growing up now, my love, ay?" Ryan says and laughs. Elle shakes her head.

"Probably you're right. I just thought there might be something heating up, so I invited him to come to my party, and I never thought that he would actually accept the invitation and come. I think I'll see where things are going, I'm just happy that he made the next move, and I hope we can get him to talk a little more, Rita, Lin and Matt had to promise me to leave him alone in case he would not want to talk. I haven't talked to Jess about him, you know her, she would look at us in that way the whole time." She can hear him giggle.

"You know what? I'll stay for a bit, but I'll have to leave at around 9 o'clock, some mates from school wanted to meet up and so I'll go and meet them at _Captain Dawson's_. Should I get you some alcohol for your party?"

"I don't think we'll need something, mum promised to make bowle and dad said he'll get us some beer for that barbeque later on, so I think that's enough for once. You know Rita and Matt don't drink usually but will tonight, so they won't be able to take much in, Lin is religiously not allowed to, Jess is pretty much the only one who goes out, and I have no idea about Ethan. But I suppose he doesn't drink either. And if he does, he may talks three words more," she laughs, then thinks that this was an insult and bites her lip. "Whatever, I'll see you later then, have fun working! I really did have problems imagining you as a person sitting in an office."

"That's because it just doesn't fit to me, but dad lets me wear my bandana and I don't have to wear a tie, so I'm happier than I would be anywhere else," he smiles dryly and then rings off.

Elle puts down the phone into the little land line phone charger and looks out of the window, watching three owls sitting down on the white fence. She looks at them for a few seconds, thinking of how beautiful they are, before realising, that owls would not be awake during day and if they would, they would not sit, three at one time at once, at her garden fence. She leans forward to watch them closer, when she notices Lucky slowly tapping towards them. Panicking that her cat would attack them, she opens the door and shouts her, as all of them three fly away, majestic as they are.

Still wondering about this rare situation she decides to go upstairs to her room to look it up, if this was theoretically able to happen, or if she just daydreamed all that. Quite disappointingly it turns out that this wasn't able to happen. At least in theory. She takes a closer look and reads the headline _Owls seen during day – the secrets of a hidden world_. Suspiciously, Elle clicks on the website only to get linked to a site of freaky stuff, all about magic and a hidden world and witches and wizards. As if. She sighs and closes the laptop, when she notices an emerald-green box with a golden ribbon around it.

She stands up and walks closer to it, eyeing it as if it was something from Mars. She checks all sides of the box and then decides that it must be a present which was left from either her parents or her brother. Either way, it must be an early present, as she always got the actual present or presents after her birthday dinner which always consisted of a roast dinner and some extra Yorkshire Puddings, as they were her favourites.

Slowly taking off the golden ribbon, she notices that the box was not sealed with tape, the cover was only held together with the ribbon – a system which none of her family members used. She wonders whom this present was actually from and who and why they placed it on her bed. She watches the curtain flow with the wind, as she realises that it was not herself who left that window open, lesson one about living in London was to not leave the window open when leaving for more than a few minutes further away than to the kitchen to sneak some Nutella.

She pulls a funny face and closes the window and looks down to the fence. Owls, an open window, and now a strange box on her bad which was certainly not from her family. What was this all about? Or was she just going crazy because she read that thing about magic and all that. But no, that cannot be, magic was impossible, as a science defender this simply could not be the case, this article just made her head go funny.

Elle shakes her head and tries to get rid of the thoughts in her head. "Humbug," she says and smiles a little about her stupidity. She wraps the cover off the box and puts it aside. She now holds wooden box in her hands, it surely must be old, as it is dark and shiny from, probably being touched from many people already. Who would give something like that to her? Curious now, she puts down the lid down. Eyes wide open she stares at the necklace laying inside it. There were five symbols on it – a silver snake with an emerald-green background, a golden lion with a red background, a silver eagle on a blue background and a badger on a yellow background. In the middle of those four was a Rubin.

Carefully she let her fingers slide over it, to fully embrace this piece of jewellery which she found most extraordinarily beautiful. She then looked next to her hand to see the corner of a parchment sticking out behind the little pillow in which the necklace laid in. She puts the necklace around her neck and feels a bit strange as if she just hung a huge milestone around her neck, like a cloud of responsibility raining down on her. "Now, what is this," she whispers to herself and takes out a letter, addressed to:

_Ms E. Robinson_

_The Last Room on the First Floor_

_442 Buckinham Road_

_Chiswick_

_LONDON_

It gives Elle the shiver. This clearly could not be from any friend or family member of her. But whoever wrote this must have known in which room she lived which was not a bit worrying too. Still she tried to put that thought aside, as the curiosity overcame her fear and anger. She turned it around to find the letter being sealed with red wax, another strange sign on this one. Wherever it came from, the sender must be living in another universe, using parchment and wax so seal a letter. She laughs hysterically, this somehow did not get better or clearer, as she hoped and expected. It more of became a big mystery and mess in her head. Slowly moving her finders under the sealing part of the letter, she opens it and pulls out another piece of parchment. Again, on the top right was written her address.

_Dear Ms E. Robinson,_

_You may wonder where this letter comes from and I can assure you that you will get all your questions answered as soon as the clock strikes 9 o'clock tonight. It is important that you tell nobody about this necklace which may not seem worth anything to you at the moment, but you have been chosen to be servant and leader of the magical world. Do not talk to anyone and make sure that you are alone and wearing this necklace, when the time has come._

_All you need to know is that this is a present which you cannot decline, and I can ensure you that you do not want to decline it as soon as you get to know to my world and all my surroundings._

_I hope you enjoy your 16th birthday,_  
_Gondor Gryffindor_


	2. Chapter 2

Elle stares at the parchment laying in her hands. Over and over she reads this letter again, until she looks at her watch, to check the time, feeling lost in time and space – twelve o'clock on the dot. Whatever this was and whoever sent it, in nine hours, according to the writer of this letter, she would either find out, or not. _Godric Gryffindor_. She tries to find a connection to that name, types it into Google, but even Google can't tell her anything about it.

She tries to find a possible explanation for all this, but she just can't. Never ever would she believe in such a thing as magic, it was simply not possible! All the laws of physic, of science, all that stuff children get taught in school, all of it would be wrong and that just could not be the case. Humanity would be just a big and massive lie with this thing called magic. No, not in a million years magic could actually exist. She shakes her head to get rid of the idea of some people with wands and hats and mixing herbs in big trunks. Even if they did exist, why would they hide and not help people out with all their magic?

But on the other hand, she thinks, everything she just read and saw bespoke the existence of magic. This necklace which did not feel like being from this world, from something actual human, and laying a massive milestone around her neck, this letter which was written on very, very old parchment, she could tell by the texture of it, the logo of something unfamiliar on the red wax that sealed the letter and those four symbols on the necklace. It just all seemed so special, so _magical_.

She lets her fingers slide over the necklace again and feel its embrace. What if it was real? If there was some sort of a magical world out there, hidden from humanity to protect themselves. After all those hunts on witches she could understand them perfectly. What if there were people out there who would mix strange liquids in their trunks and speak spells and could heal people as if it was magic. When Elle was young, she used to believe that there was some sort of a different power out there, but all the laws and school and life has taught her that this power could not exist, only in the believes of people who baulk to see reality.

Her old religion teacher used to say that as long as people believed in something, it was real. And even if it was only for themselves, in their own little, imaginative worlds, it was real. And that's why kids are afraid of monsters under their bed, he said, because they are convinced that there are some giants under their bed, because they've been told so by their parents to stay in bed in night! So every single noise they heard, every movement was blamed on this monster, and this kid would become so afraid of this invisible and not realistic monster, that it would stay in bed all night. That's just another trick of humanity, he said, telling stories to manipulate people, to make them believe in something that's not real.

And when you grow up, you get taught that all this noises belong to different things and that there is no monster, but who knows, professor Stiles used to ask them with big eyes, where does all these monsters come from? Humanity probably was not too imaginative to just _invent _monsters. What if there was a time, and maybe there still is, where monsters exist, hide under children's beds and looked horrific? How did humanity get the idea of magic? Did they just try to explain something very special and very mystic, or was there actually a time where magic as such a thing did exist. And right now, Elle was not so sure anymore if all her life was only focused on the thought not to believe in things if they were not proven by any scientist. Magic did exist. It must have. Maybe only in a distant memory and all this was a joke, but she was certain, that there must have been something alike out there at one point.

She looks at the watch again. Nine hours. Pretty shitty, that was probably just about the time when everyone was around enjoying themselves, and then she would have to speak to this Godric. If she would even speak to him. What was she supposed to do? Just wait in her room for him to get there? Would he come and knock on their door? Would he just magically appear in her room? And what questions should she ask? Could she trust him if he wanted to take her somewhere?

Elle tried to get away from all those thoughts and focus on the facts, just as her dad has always taught her. She got a present from someone who claimed to be from a magical world. As far as she was aware of, this necklace was not dangerous, and there were not any dangerous other things in this box. It was her birthday today. She would have to organise a party. A party that would start in 6 hours and she hasn't even started yet. She should probably do so now. Yes, she should. Forget about this whole necklace thing and start living the real, non-magical life where she could not just wave her wand and make the cottage clean itself. Would be useful, but that would not happen, unfortunately.

She gets up from her bed, puts the necklace under her white shirt, puts her hair back in to a ponytail and checks herself in the mirror. Deep breathe in. At first she would have to empty the cottage. There were all sorts of things in there – chairs, tables, lawn mowers, scissors, gardening stuff she didn't even understand what they could be possibly used for and other stuff from her dad, her brother and herself. Her mum told her to put all these either in the basement or in the shade next to the cottage, that they could then put all of it away after the party. Elle happily agreed to that before she opened the doors of the cottage to see what a mess there was inside. Not to mention all those huge spiders that were hanging from the ceiling and wandering across the gardening stuff. Ugh, she always dislike spiders, even if she was supposed to like them, as they were useful to especially humans, to keep the flies away.

After making it presentable enough for anyone else, she would have to set up the barbeque place, organize some rain cover as London wasn't great in making decision, it could never decide which weather it wanted to have. Then she needed to go shopping to buy some meat for barbeque, crisps, popcorn, snacks, veg, drinks and some chocolate for Rita. Elle smiles, Rita was one of the thinnest and most attractive people she knew, and still she would eat at least one bar of chocolate a day. How on earth was this even possible?

She had known Rita since they were kids and were put together in a team for a car race. Of course only with those little ones which only children got to play with, and they won against all the boys every single time, with Rita driving the car, doing the best possible corners with keeping balance and Elle pushing the car on the back seat with her tiny feet so fast that all the kids were always jealous.

Then they went to primary school together and were the two girls who always giggled and were liked by everyone. In secondary school they had to part their ways, as Rita went to Oxford into a girl's boarding school and Elle went to a boarding school in Cambridge. They both wrote letters to each other and met during the holidays to see each other again, and through all that they still were best friends. With the age of 15, they both returned to London to go to this 3 years college they always wanted to go to. It was for highly intelligent people with special courses and opportunities to see the world. In this one year they both had been to that school, they travelled to France, Spain and Portugal, and there was even more travelling in the next two years.

Rita had always been interested in law, and justice, while Elle was the more creative and experimental one with being good in scientific subjects, as well as creative subjects. The more time they spent together, the more they felt like fulfilling each other's missing part. Both of them were people who were liked mostly by all people whenever they met a new environment, which made it easy for both to succeed in their young lives.

Elle claps her hands as if to remind her that she had to do things. She had 6 hours until the first guest was due to arrive, Rita would most probably come here earlier to help her out, Matt and Jess would be late and Lin would be here at six on the dot, he was one of the most reliable and punctual people she knew. Ryan and uncle Harry would be here sometime after six o'clock, perhaps half an hour to an hour later, and Ethan would be here perhaps a little late if she could guess, she couldn't imagine him as an early kind of person, neither a punctual of late one. A few minutes after six, and he would be here – in case he would even come.

She sighs and jumps down the stairs, she could think about all that later, now the cottage had to be cleaned and finished. She checks her hair in the mirror and then exists the house to walk to the little cottage of, now officially, hers. Putting some rubber gloves on, she slowly gets to work.

Happy, but exhausted that everything finally was done, she checks the time – five o'clock and seven minutes. She nods. Cleaning up was not even as bad as she thought, the spiders went away by their selves and shopping wasn't a problem either, after her brother offered her to get her to the shopping mall.

"Alright, love?" her mum asks who just came home from work. As the hospital was only a five minutes walk away, she was able to commute quickly between work and home. Elle looks at the big clock on the wall – five o'clock and eight minutes. It seemed to her that time always went a bit quicker when things were being actively done than when she only sat around doing nothing, just like being at home and being in school, a totally different passing of time.

"Hey mum, yeah, got the cottage done, and Jonah gave me a lift to Tesco and ASDA, so I'm pretty much all set for tonight. How was your day?"

"Oh, I'm telling you," she says, clearly exhausted from the day, her eyes having slight shadows below those always blue glowing eyes of hers, "can you remember Mr. Thomas, the old patient that died yesterday during brain surgery?" Elle nods. "Now his family came to the hospital today, with a lawyer on their side." Elle rolls her eyes, there were always these people who just thought that they could get anything out of any situation. In this case from a dead uncle or father – as if the doctor would have done something wrong. Of course she knew that there were cases where this actually occurred. But that was, perhaps, one in a thousand. And in case of Mr. Thomas it was one of the 999 cases where no one would get anything out of the situation, apart from the lawyer who obviously earned a lot.

"The doctor turned out to be on holiday in Spain after finishing yesterday so they tried to make him return to, in their own words, get justice for Mr. Thomas. The thing is that Thomas was deadly ill anyway as he suffered from breast cancer in one of the last states. He actually told the doctor that he should not blame himself if anything went wrong, as death was only a small matter of time. A very gracious and wise man he was, it's sad to see that always the people who deserve to live, die." Her mum sighs, some of her ginger curls falling into her face. Elle smiles to cheer her up and is happy to see it returned.

She quickly mumbles an excuse to her mum before she disappears on the staircase up to her room. In her cupboard were quite a few outfits which she could wear, although it seemed to her that she already wore all of these so that none of them were special enough to wear them today. In the end she went for her casual green trousers, a dark brown leather-belt, a simple white shirt, a necklace with a brown leather-band and a red stone and red flat shoes. She looked at herself in the mirror and was quite happy with her outfit.

Then she straightened her hair so that it would fall down her shoulders in nice curls and clipped some of her hair to the back. Happily she then put some make-up, only some mascara and eyeliner before cleaning her room so that it was presentable for any guests who may wanted to come up here and have a look around. "And that's it," she smiles, closes the window and goes downstairs again. Lucky, her ginger cat, already surrounded her by the last steps of the stairs. Looking down she saw some yellow converse standing next to the front door.

"Rita? Mum, is Rita here?" before receiving an answer, her friend comes through the door and smiles wider than Elle could remember her smiling in years. Her dark brown hair was braided to her right side and she wore black trousers and a beige shirt. "Happy birthday," she sings and places a big box in her hands, "I think you already know what's in there, but I thought it'd be so much cooler to wrap it all up. Never mind the bow, you know I could never do those!" Elle laughs and so does Rita.

"Thanks, Rita! Is anyone else here yet?" she asks with halfway knowing the answer – it was only half past five, half an hour earlier than any guest should arrive. "No, and I helped your mum preparing the barbeque, I didn't want to go up to your room and interrupt your dressing up, so I thought I'd just stay here and play with Lucky, she's so adorable, aren't you," she says, kneeing down again and holding the ginger cat's face in both of her hands. Lucky didn't feel too lucky about that gesture and snarls at her. "Uh, little pussycat, sorry," she laughs at the cat as it walks towards the kitchen, her head held high.

"She's the best," Elle laughs and follows Lucky into the kitchen. She then places the present on the kitchen table and looks outside to the garden. "Took me four hours to fully empty, clean and placing the new furniture in it. Have you seen it?" Rita shakes her head, so Elle shows her around. They sit down at a wooden couch and talk for a bit which then turned out to have lasted half an hour, as the doorbell rang for the first time. As they open it, they find, unsurprisingly, Lin who handed Elle another present, after hugging both of them. The next guests who were arriving were Matt and Jess who happened to have met at the street, only seven minutes after six which was a record in time for both of them. Elle expected both of them way later.

They all sat down for barbeque at half past six, Elle had already given up hope for Ethan to ever turn up at hers, so she did not expect Ethan, along with Ryan and uncle Harry standing in front of the house, Ryan and Ethan looking a bit awkwardly, uncle Harry, as usual, looking happy and enthusiastic. Elle gestured Ethan to the barbeque table, feeling guilty about him, as he was looking like a small puppy unfamiliar with his new environment, exchanging a few lines with uncle Harry, saying a quick goodbye and then leading Ryan to the barbeque table where her mum already put the grill on.

"I think you can do the rest, can't you," her mum says before excusing herself and going back inside the house. Ethan stood up to firstly stand next to her for a few moments and then offering his help to do the barbeque. A bit awkwardly and strange feeling, they both managed to sort of grill the sausages and the other meat, then they put some pineapple covered in honey on the grill and last but not least did some corn.

At half past seven they finished eating and Elle's mum brought out some boule which was happily consumed by everyone except Lin, who was not allowed to drink and Ethan who did not seem to enjoy himself too much. Lin and Elle just started a conversation about some political stuff, with some arguments of Rita who was the one and only when it came to politics. Jess had hooked up with Matt, while Ethan sat on his chair, a bit laid back, checking his Twitter for any updates.

"Hey Ethan, what do you think about the new Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu?" Elle asks and turns into Ethans direction. The boy paused for a few seconds, looking directly into Elle's dark green eyes. He lowered his lips and lifted his eyebrows.

"I actually don't know much about politics and all this stuff. All I know and need to know is that Netanyahu seems like a person who could actually accomplish peace. I also hope that he will be able to negotiate in the right way in Oslo. That's all I can contribute to your conversation," he smiles a little at Elle, then at Rita and Lin. Rita takes a breath in and looks around her.

"Sorry that we didn't include you in our conversation, that was utterly rude." She gives him a small smile.

"I'm used to not being part of a conversation, my parents hardly ever include me in theirs, and if they do, it's only about my grades, how I should do better in school, do more sport, have more friends, finally find a girlfriend and all that. I'm a disgrace from head to toe for them." He shakes his head and laughs, "I sound like a child who is not respected, and actually I'm not, but please don't treat me that way and with pity, I hate both ways people treat me."

"Of course not! I didn't knew that your parents were that hard on you… you never seemed that way in school," Elle says and drinks her cup of water up, she had enough of that boule and as this drink certainly was the reason why Jess was snugging off Matt's face, she was sure that she wouldn't want any more.

"How are you supposed to act when you're the loser and the biggest shame of your family? I feel like I'm a different person as soon as I step out of the door of our house. You just learn to forget this life you're leading in there and have a second, or even third life elsewhere." All four of them remain in silence for a bit.

"I heard your parents were lawyers," Rita starts, "mine are too. I know that it's hard sometimes to be judged and pushed by them for all your life, since you were able to think and draw conclusions. I learned that it's best to just go your own way and show them the person that you want them to see in you. Sounds harsh and not very helping, but that's what kept me going. And now both of them are proud of me and that I walked my own way." Ethan nods at Rita and she feels somehow relieved and less tensioned than all this was before.

"But you know what, guys? This is a party and I think we should really celebrate!" Lin, Elle and Ethan looked up at her in confusion, not sure what to expect of that argument. "Oh guys, please, I don't mean to go partying on the streets, you know that I'm, and none of you are, forgive me, that sort of people. What I meant was to get out Twister, or Activity, or Monopoly and we'll rock that party!" Elle laughs.

"For a minute I thought that you want to go clubbing. I was utterly confused!" Now all of them laugh. Ryan just gets back from the house, five bottles of beer in his hand. "Don't worry, the blue one is without alcohol, Lin, you won't be in any trouble." Lin nods at him thankfully. "So, what did I miss?"

"Oh," Rita says, "we just decided on playing Twister! Cheers," she says and takes the bottle Ryan offers to her.

"I'll get it from my room," Elle says, puts down the bottle after taking a sip and making her way to the house. In it, all the lights were off already, as her parents were far asleep and her brother gone to some of his friends. She gropes for the light switch and turns the dining room light on. Then she closes the door to not let in any mosquitos and walks forwards as her foot slams against something soft. Panicking she looks down to find an angry cat with her tail held high, hissing at her. "Sorry Lucky," she says and wants to pet her as she jerks away from her in fear.

She jumps up the stairs, not caring too much about making too much noise – Matt turned the music in their garden so loud that a neighbour of theirs told them to turn it down. Still it was quite loud, so Elle thought that her parents were either awake anyway or wouldn't bother the little cracks of the stairs anyway if they could sleep with all that noise.

Finally upstairs, she sneaks into her room and searches in her cupboard full of books and games for Twister. "Now, where can you be," she whispers and holds a big game about ghosts and castles back that was about to fall on her head. "I really should clean up here sometime."

"Oh don't bother, my room is much messier." She turns around in shock and tries to calm her fast beating heart. "You didn't have to make me jump, Mister Smith," she says and turns away to the cupboard to hide her red cheeks. It wasn't only that he made her jump, the boy she was hunting after and finally got to speak was now leaning quite attractively in her doorframe. His white shirt which was pulled out and not done with much effort, the loose red tie, the black tight, but still quite loose jeans, his dark brown messy hair and those glowing brown eyes that looked so teasingly and knowing at her.

"And you don't have to go as red as a beetroot just because I made you jump, Miss Robinson," he came into the room, closed the door and sat down her bed. Elle did her best to find that game a bit quicker to get out of this situation and back to the people downstairs, but she kept on pushing games back that had the urge to fall on her head.

"Can I be of any assistance?" Ethan asks and gets up from the bed.

"Well, if you could put some sort of spell or anything on those games for just staying in place," she says before panicking again. The time! Quickly she wants to look at the time, taking her left hand away from the games she held back and feeling an instant pain.

"Owch," she squeaks as some games hit her in the face. She covers her head with her hands and moves away from the cupboard. A tear drops on her trousers and leaves a small, wet dot.

"Hey, you okay?" Ethan asks, jumps off the bed and knees down next to her.

"I'm okay, I just wanted to check the time without realising that I don't have another two arms to hold those books back," she laughs hastily, feeling a cold hand wiping away a tear off her hot face. Elle looks up at him, as he takes away her right hand off her head and puts some hair aside.

"There is a little cut, we should probably get you to a hospital or something," he whispers and gets out his phone. Elle gently pushes his phone away. "It's okay, Ethan, it's only a little cut, it will heal in no time."

"But maybe it's more than a little cut and the doctors should have a look at it," he says concerned and gets back his phone.

"It's indeed very charming that you attempt to care or actually do care about me, but it's only little, so don't make a big deal out of it, okay?" Ethan swallows.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want you to be or get hurt," he says and looks into those big, dark green eyes glowing at him and remembering him of that soft, fresh grass on a flower field. "You're eyes look so pretty," he says before lowering his lips on hers. She first feels strange, his lips all warm and soft on her also hot lips, but then puts a hand on his head, wanting him to be closer to her, wanting to be one with him, as she suddenly stops and pulls him away.

She looks at her watch again. Twenty-one seconds to nine.

_Twenty seconds to nine. _

"You need to get out of this room," she says to Ethan.

_Nineteen seconds._

Ethan looks confused. "What's wrong?"

_Sixteen seconds._

"Trust me, only for once. I'm sorry, Ethan, this is something I have to do. Please!"

_Twelve seconds._

She gets up and to her table in which the necklace lies in. She takes it out and puts it around her neck. Now Ethan gets up too, clearly confused about all that's going on.

_Eight seconds._

"Hey, what's wrong? And what do you carry around your neck? Is that the Hogwarts armorial?" He touches the armorial and lets his fingers slide over the four house signs.

_Two seconds._

Her eyes bore into his warm, brown ones. "How do you know about-"

Elle feels as if she was pulled by a rope around her stomach through the air, her hands, feet and head numb and unable to move, just as if she was paralyzed. Around her she sees moving images, as if someone would forward a movie so quick that it was not possible to pick up any images.

As it finally stops, she lands on her feet, bending forward and vomiting to her feet. With shaking knees she slowly lifts her head, the unpleasing sour taste of vomit still in her mouth. She spits next to her and puts a strand of hair behind her ear, her head throbbing.

Her eyes look around and she finds herself to be in a completely different place than her room. A voice comes from a big chair with a man sitting in it. He has long, grey hair and a white beard which is nearly as long as his hair. On his head there is an emerald hat with red stars on it. It is curled up and down along the very front of it. Right below he had some seemingly glowing blue eyes and half-moon-glasses sitting on the edge of his long, crooked nose. He wears a crooked smile, before making a serious face.

"Miss-," he starts with leaving a gap for Elle to answer.

"Robinson, Elle Robinson. What is this here? Where am I? And who are you? I only wanted to-"

"Miss Robinson, I am very pleased to welcome you to Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry. I expected you alone, but it seems to me that you have brought a guest with you. May I know his name? It occurs to me, that I have seen this face before" Elle turns around hectically and stares at Ethan who stares right back to her. She lifts her eyebrows, "do you know this man?"

The boy, equally confused tries to clears his mind. "Yes, Elle. His name is Albus Dumbledore, the probably greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had."


End file.
